What's Your Plan?

Flood Zone Recap
February 18, 2007

What are you doing Friday? What about next week? What about this summer? Where do you see yourself 10 years from now?

These are all common questions that we ask each other, especially as teenagers. But, are these questions OK for Christians to ask each other, especially when we know that God is in control and we don't know what he already has planned?

This questions comes from a couple of verses in James. Check out James 4:13-17:

13 Come now you who say, "Today or tomorrow, we shall go to such and such a city, and spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit."

14 Yet yo do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away.

15 Instead, you ought to say, "If the Lord wills, we shall live and also do this or that."

16 But as it is, you boast in your arrogance; all such boasting is evil.

17 Therefore, to one who knows the right thing to do, and does not do it, to him it is sin!

Let's take a minute and look at 2 things: What IS James saying and what is James NOT saying.

What IS James Saying:

1. You don't know what your life will be like tomorrow. (v13)
2. Life is short. (v14)
3. We need to focus on what God wants for our lives-there is a specific plan! (v15)
4. Pride can easily creep into our plans. (v16)
5. When we know we are leaving God out of the picture, and we don't change it, we are sinning. (v17)

What is James NOT Saying:
There is a lot that James is not saying here relating to planning, business and profit. Sometimes, however, we might misinterpret what he is saying, so we need to reference other parts of scripture to see where we have gone wrong. Here are a few things to get the ball rolling.

1. Business is bad (v13). (see 1 Thess 4:11)
2. Profits and Riches are Bad (v13). (see the Prable of the Talents, Abraham, and Job)
3. Life is Meaningless (v14). (Luke 12:22)
4. God is a God of Disorder (v14). (Jeremiah 31:35-36)
5. Don't make ANY Plans (v15). (Is 25:1)
6. Plans are Evil (v16). (Proverbs 31:10 ff)
7. If you have Goals you are Sinning (v17). (Proverbs 31:10 ff)

Knowing more about what James is and is not saying helps us apply these verses to our own lives better. We can ask ourselves the question: "How do I make sure that my plans and goals are not sinful and prideful?" I have 2 answers for you!

1. Make sure that you are willing to be interrupted. Allow God the freedom to change your plans when necessary. This involves the big things (college, career, spouse, etc.) and the little things (taking time to see how your teacher is doing, sitting with a different person at lunch, not watching your favorite tv show because someone needs to talk, delaying your daily plans for something God has for you.)

2. Make sure you have a God-centered focus instead of a self-centered focus. Don't base your pllans on what YOU or others want for your life, but on what God wants for your life. God may want to ruin your plans becuase he has something FAR GREATER in store that will lead to a much more powerful overflow of grace, joy, hope, peace and life from you to those around you.